Shaheeda Barrie, the head of the Firm’s Banking and Finance practice, is a veteran finance and investment lawyer, with over twenty years of experience.

She specialises in the law and policy relating to debt, financial markets, investment, exchange control, company law and tax. She has extensive expertise in advising and representing key regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka. She was also a member of the Company Law Advisory Commission of Sri Lanka. Internationally, she has functioned as a Short-Term Consultant at the World Bank, Washington D.C.

During her tenure at the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka (1999-2022), she rose to the rank of Deputy Solicitor General, and was routinely tasked with vetting, advising on and negotiating development project agreements and financial instruments on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, including – Term Loan Agreements, Bilateral Currency Swaps, International Sovereign Bonds, Infrastructure Projects and Public Private Partnerships.

Shaheeda also possesses extensive experience in litigation and arbitration. She regularly appeared as Counsel on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and other Quasi-Governmental entities in judicial proceedings in courts of Sri Lanka including the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, as well as in local and international arbitrations and mediation proceedings.  Her general legal practice encompasses, public and constitutional law, law relating to government procurements, power and energy, construction law and private international law.

In the academic sphere, Shaheeda has functioned as a lecturer in banking regulation, international economic law, international arbitration and private international law, at graduate and post graduate levels.

Shaheeda holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) with First Class Honours from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a post-graduate degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) from the University of Oxford and a Masters in International Legal Studies specialising in Business Law (LL.M – Summa Cum Laude) from the American University, Washington College of Law. In respect of each of these academic pursuits, she was awarded a studentship by the LSE, the Commonwealth Scholarship by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission of the UK, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship by the Fulbright Commission and the Government of USA, respectively.

Shaheeda is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK, an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and a Barrister-at-Law of England and Wales (Gray’s Inn).